School board hears mid-year updates

DARTMOUTH — DeMello School Principal Cathy Maccini presented a mid-year status report and an update on the school's improvement monitoring plan at the Dartmouth School Committee meeting on March 12.

CHRISTINA STYAN

DARTMOUTH — DeMello School Principal Cathy Maccini presented a mid-year status report and an update on the school's improvement monitoring plan at the Dartmouth School Committee meeting on March 12.

The action steps and key strategies focused on improved reading skills being the key to an increase in student comprehension levels. "We wanted to increase student comprehension scores by five percent from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year," Principal Maccini remarked.

STAR reading data, which is the National Norm Test for grades three through five, demonstrated that DeMello students in grade three have improved better than 75 percent, she reported.

The action plan includes a six-week MCAS math preparation program for students in grades four and five. The administration used the Fountas and Pinell data to determine reading levels for students in grades one to three to form SPLASH groups.

"We regroup students according to a narrower individualized reading plan. Teachers have a wider expanse and with this regrouping, can challenge students as needed," Ms. Maccini explained. Staff have used the SPLASH groups in second grade, and it has been very popular with students, she added.

Along with reading regrouping, students used the leveled library that is new this year. "Teachers utilize the leveled library in conjunction with Storytown," Ms. Maccini explained. Leveled readers receive small group instruction and independent reading time.

"We do not have one book for one class. Students read books at their level," she added. Monthly reading logs, walk-throughs and students learning from reading aloud are all being employed, she noted.

DeMello Assistant Principal Catherine Pavao emphasized some of the action steps taken as part of the Cultural Core. The plan would create a committee that would examine current parental and guardian involvement data, develop a survey, analyze results, and create a plan to increase parent participation.

The survey used asked about creating a committee of people that would be interested in attending workshops to help the child learn more at home. "The survey showed parents wanted family nights, with movies, game nights, and poetry nights.

In the survey, 53 percent of families said they still prefer receiving hard copies of information, Ms. Maccini said.

High School Principal Kerry Lynch and Associate Principal Marissa Logue presented their school improvement plans and updates at mid-year.

"Literacy strategies include developing a school-wide writing schedule across the curriculum, encompassing a broad range of writing assignments," explained Ms. Logue. The administration is working on school-wide rubrics and creating unit plans to increase vocabulary levels, she added.

The principals discussed plans to develop safety nets within the core classroom, implementing them consistently to adjust instruction and correct misconceptions while developing a new schedule to provide improved school climate.

"If only we had more common planning time; it is really important to help students to define their academic goals, and create a plan to monitor and achieve them," Ms. Lynch advised.

Students with goals are more likely to achieve, she added. Over 180 students attended a Junior Parents College Planning Night that included an emphasis on student goals.

In other business, School Business Administrator James Kiely explained an emerging problem at the Dartmouth Middle School with a deteriorating heating and hot water system. "It makes sense to replace the existing hot water system for the entire building with energy saving equipment. We do not have to replace all the boilers," he advised.

He said the issue will be discussed with the Capital Improvements Committee and the Finance Committee, and may considered for a transfer of funds, he added.

"About 20-25 percent of the work can be done with in-house maintenance staff that has done similar work at Quinn School," he noted.